But the main reason behind buying valentines gifts for men and women was in fact a kindly cleric named Valentine who died over a thousand years ago... As history would have it Valentines Day derived from the Roman pagan fertility celebration known as Lupercalia which was held on February 15th. During this ritual a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year to promote fertility and deflect disasters. Then in 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius wanted to add a Christian slant to the pagan celebration a day earlier. He made the conscious decision to pay tribute to a young soldier who lived in Rome who was put to death for his Christian beliefs on February 14th 269 A.D. This young soldier then became dubbed Saint Valentine.

Another option of course is to pick something that they consider a treat -whether this is a nice meal out or a night without the kids arrange something to show you care. New mothers often love the time to even go for a hot bath without the children chasing them so an evening of freedom complete with babysitter and food would probably be a perfect valentines present. New dads often appreciate acknowledgment too so arranging something nice for them can go down well. As children get older they may join you for valentines meals to save money so if you can organise the babysitter (with your partners knowledge) even if the rest of it is a surprise that will make for a wonderful evening. Cards and other items One of the major complaints that people have about Valentines Day is the dizzying array of cards - whether the person in question is buying or receiving them is how many different sizes and costs of cards there are.

Canvas Prints Pick a single photo and have it printed on canvas. You can even write a short text message or caption that is included around the edge of the photo on the front of the canvas or have the message printed on the back of the frame. The choice of photo is down to you and you can choose between pictures of people places or objects. One of the simplest but most effective ideas is to use a picture of the two of you together. Photo Montages Why choose a single photo when you can use many different pictures instead? Publishing applications like Microsofts Publisher can be used to great effective montages that consist of a number of pictures but if youre not confident in creating your own photo montage you can let a professional design team do the work for you.